Ting-a-ling, the doorbell was ringing. Who is at the door?  Could it be a visit from the postman with a letter for O’Toole’s mother?  Could it be the milkman with more milk?  Has somebody come to visit O’Toole or visit his mother?

Ting-a-ling, Ting-a-ling the doorbell was calling.   O’Toole was hurrying, he wanted to open up the front door. When O’Toole’s mother opened the door then O’Toole knew who was at the door. The Plumber has come to stop the drip in our kitchen. He brought a big bag of tools. Big shiny tools.  Little tiny tools and a great big box.  Lots and lots of wrenches and screwdrivers. All of the tools were shiny and colorful.  Hank the Tank really likes sniffing in the Plumber’s toolbox.

O’Toole’s mother said — O’Toole you’re going to need to stand back and let the Plumber do his job.

Hank the Tank said — Yes Mother, we will stand back so the Plumber can do his job. Can we watch from a distance?

O’Toole’s mother said – Yes, it is ok for you to watch, as long as the Plumber can do his work.

Ratatat, the hammer started making all kinds of noise. The hands of the Plumber moved very fast. He steps outside and goes into the storage room of the house. He turns the water off. Soon the drip stops.

Bit by bit, all the parts for the faucet come off of the sink. The Plumber pulls the faucet out of the sink. He opens the faucet up and puts parts inside the faucet. The Plumber puts a faucet back together.

Ratatat, the clanging sound starts again. The Plumber installs the faucet in the sink. I can hear the creaking sound as the Plumber tightens up the connections for the faucet. Then he picks all of his tools up and moves them away from where he is working. He looks at the faucet from the top. He looks at faucet from the bottom. He scratches his chin and says I think I’m ready to turn the water on.

Then the Plumber walked into the storage room and turned the water on.  He came back into the kitchen and looked for leaks or drips. O’Toole could not see any leaks or drips. The Plumber reaches out and very slowly turns the water on at the sink. The water comes out of the faucet. The Plumber turned off the water. He puts all of his tools back in his toolbox and checks for leaks and drips. Then the Plumber calls my mother into the kitchen to look at the faucet.

The Plumber asked – Does the faucet look ok?

O’Toole’s mother replied — yes it looks very nice. Thank you for coming and helping me with this project.

The Plumber said — I was glad to be of help. Call me if you need other things fixed. I’m leaving now.

And just like that, the Plumber picked up his tool bag, headed to the front door, and left the house.

O’Toole’s mother said — O’Toole, you did very good. You did not disturb the Plumber. Thank you.

She reached over and scratched Hank the Tank on the chin. She let Hank the Tank know he had done a good job keeping O’Toole out of trouble.  O’Toole’s mother picked up the phone and called a Carpenter. She wanted him to come and fix the back steps of O’Toole’s house. The Carpenter agreed to come soon to repair the back steps. A little while later O’Toole heard the doorbell ring again. Ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling, O’Toole can hear that doorbell ring. He ran to the door. Just before O’Toole got to the door, his mother got to the door. She opened the door.  O’Toole looked around the corner to see who it was. He saw another toolbox and big pieces of wood. Oh boy he thought, this looked like fun.  It was the Carpenter.

O’Toole’s mother said to the Carpenter — have you come to fix my back step?

The Carpenter said to O’Toole’s mother – Yes, I am here to fix your back step. And who is this young man looking from around the corner?

O’Toole’s mother said — This is O’Toole my son and his dog, Hank the tank.  Mr. Carpenter, why don’t you come in and I will show you the location of the back step.

The Carpenter said — Thank you. Show me the way.

O’Toole and Hank the Tank followed the Carpenter to the back step. The Carpenter looked at the step and scratched his chin. Then the Carpenter made a plan.  He opened up his tool bag.  O’Toole was very happy to see more shiny tools. But these tools did not look like the Plumber’s tools. They look different. O’Toole wondered what the tools would do.

Just like that, the Carpenter got his hammer and started pounding – ratatat. Then the carpenter got his saw out — Oompa. Sawdust was flying. The Carpenter removed the old stair steps and just like that he put on the new steps. He trimmed up the wood to the right length. And then checked to be sure the step was right by using a level.  He showed the tool to Hank the Tank and explained how the bubble in the tool told the Carpenter that the stair was just right. The Carpenter called my mother to take a look. He showed her the level. She knew how to read the level to be sure that the stairs were correctly installed. She looked.  She smiled. The Carpenter smiled and packed up his tools.  He walked out of the front door.

The Carpenter looked back and said to O’Toole’s mother – call me if you need more help!

O’Toole’s mother said – I will call you soon.  I have other things that need fixing.

O’Toole’s mother said – O’Toole, I am going to get you a bowl of ice cream. Thank you for behaving so well while the repair men were here.  Hank the Tank, I am getting you a bowl of really nice food. Both of you behaved very well today I am very thankful that you let these repairmen get their job done. I thanked God that you two honored my request to be nice when the repairmen were in the house.

Hank the tank was really surprised. O’Toole was really surprised. The ice cream was really good. O’Toole was happy. It is good to behave.  O’Toole felt good he had honored and obeyed his mother. Hank the Tank curled up in the corner and let the evening sun warm his tummy.  O’Toole went outside and set on the new back steps. O’Toole watched the sunset.

The end.

Written by Margret O. Hyde, published in Humpty Dumpty Childrens Magazine, October 1955

Adapted for ShalomTalk by Dan